Cohabitation Agreement (Unmarried Couples)

Why unmarried partners who live together have few of the property and support rights spouses have, what a written cohabitation agreement can cover, and what courts do without one.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Family Law firms.

What it means

Marriage brings a set of legal rules that apply automatically when it ends: division of marital property, possible spousal support, inheritance rights and survivor benefits. Unmarried couples who live together get almost none of these by default. When they separate, each partner generally keeps what is titled in their own name, jointly owned property is divided as co-owners, and neither owes the other support. When one dies without a will, the survivor usually inherits nothing, because intestacy rules provide for spouses and relatives, not partners. Only a few states still recognize common-law marriage, and only where a couple met that state's requirements; living together for a long time does not by itself create a marriage anywhere.

A cohabitation agreement is a contract between partners that fills that gap. It can say who owns what was brought into the relationship and what is acquired during it, how a jointly bought home will be divided or bought out, who pays which expenses, whether one partner will support the other after a separation, and what happens to pets and debts. Most states enforce such agreements like other contracts if they are not based on sexual services, and some will also enforce an implied agreement or award relief on theories such as unjust enrichment or a partnership when one partner contributed to property titled in the other's name. Written agreements avoid having to prove those theories later.

A contract cannot do everything. It cannot decide child custody or child support, which courts set by the child's interests and the parents' incomes regardless of marriage; unmarried fathers may also need to establish legal paternity. Inheritance and decision-making at death or incapacity require separate documents: a will or trust, beneficiary designations, a power of attorney and a health care proxy. Some cities and states offer domestic partnership registries with limited rights.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

A family law lawyer can draft a cohabitation agreement that your state will enforce and coordinate it with your wills, deeds and beneficiary designations; it is worth doing before buying a home together, when one partner gives up work or moves for the other, or when either has children or significant assets. If you are separating without an agreement and contributed to property in your partner's name, talk to a lawyer promptly, because claims based on contract or unjust enrichment are subject to limitation periods.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Choose your state to see Family Law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z.

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Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• AdoptionThe court order that makes a child legally the son or daughter of someone other than the birth parents - the kinds of adoption, whose consent is required, how the birth parents' rights end, the home study and the hearing, and what the order changes about inheritance, records and the child's name.
• Annulment (Void and Voidable Marriage)A court judgment declaring that a marriage was never valid, as distinct from a divorce that ends a valid one - the difference between a void and a voidable marriage, the grounds each state recognizes, who may bring the case, and what an annulment does to property, support and children.
• Child SupportMoney one parent pays the other toward a child's living costs, set in most cases by a state formula rather than by negotiation.
• Child Support EnforcementHow unpaid child support is collected - income withholding, tax refund intercepts, license and passport sanctions, liens and contempt - and the free help available from state child support agencies.
• Collaborative Divorce (Collaborative Law)A way to settle a divorce out of court in which both spouses and their lawyers agree in writing to negotiate, and the lawyers must withdraw if the case goes to court.
• Common-Law MarriageA marriage formed without a license or ceremony by living together as spouses and holding yourselves out as married - which states still allow it, what has to be proved, why every state recognizes one validly formed elsewhere, and what it means for property, support and inheritance when the relationship ends.
• Dividing Retirement Accounts in Divorce (QDRO)How pensions, 401(k) plans and IRAs are divided at divorce without tax or penalty - what a qualified domestic relations order is and why a divorce decree alone is not enough, the difference between a defined-benefit and a defined-contribution split, the plans that need a different order, and the mistakes that cost a former spouse the share the decree awarded.
• Divorce MediationA process in which a neutral mediator helps separating spouses negotiate their own agreement on property, support and parenting, instead of having a judge decide for them.
• Establishing PaternityThe legal step that makes a man a child's father in law - and signing the hospital form is one of two routes, not a formality.
• Grandparent and Third-Party VisitationWhen a court can order that a child spend time with a grandparent, step-parent or other non-parent over a parent's objection - the constitutional limit set by the Supreme Court, the circumstances in which state statutes allow a petition, the special weight a fit parent's decision receives, and what a petitioner must prove.
• Grounds for DivorceThe legal basis a divorce is granted on - and in every state today at least one basis requires proving no wrongdoing by anyone.
• Guardian ad Litem and Custody EvaluatorThe two neutrals a court most often appoints in a contested custody case - what a guardian ad litem does and does not do, how it differs from a child's attorney and from a custody evaluator, who pays, what they may see, and how their reports are used at trial.
• Guardianship of a MinorA court order giving an adult who is not the parent legal authority over a child's care, or over the child's property, without ending the parents' rights - how it differs from custody and adoption, who can be appointed, what the parents keep, and how it ends.
• Legal and Physical CustodyTwo different things the word "custody" covers: who makes major decisions for a child, and where the child lives.
• Legal SeparationA court status in which spouses live apart with binding orders on support, property and children, while remaining married.
• Marital Property DivisionHow a court splits what a couple owns - and "equitable" means fair in that state's judgment, which is not the same as half.
• Military DivorceA divorce in which one spouse is a service member, which adds federal rules on where the case can be filed, how military retired pay is divided, and what the civilian spouse keeps after the divorce.
• Modifying a Custody or Support OrderChanging an existing family court order - which usually requires proving something has changed, and never happens by the parents' agreement alone.
• Parenting Plan and VisitationThe written schedule and decision-making rules for a child after separation - and the document courts increasingly require rather than invite.
• Postnuptial AgreementA contract between spouses, signed during the marriage, that decides how property and support would be handled on divorce or death, and why courts scrutinize it more closely than a prenup.
• Prenuptial AgreementA contract made before marriage about property and support - enforceable in every state, and set aside more often than most people expect.
• Protective Order (Restraining Order)A court order telling one person to stop contacting or coming near another - enforceable by police, and valid across state lines.
• Relocating With a ChildMoving a child away from the other parent - the family law dispute most likely to require the court's permission before the move, not after.
• Same-Sex Marriage and Family LawHow marriage, divorce, parentage and adoption law applies to same-sex couples after Obergefell, and the places where the rules still differ in practice.
• Spousal Support (Alimony)Payments from one former spouse to the other - discretionary in most states, and taxed differently for instruments made after 2018.
• Termination of Parental RightsThe court order that permanently ends the legal relationship between a parent and child - the grounds a state must prove, the heightened standard of proof and right to counsel, the difference between voluntary relinquishment and an involuntary petition, and what the order does and does not end.

« All glossary terms